IT'S NOT JUST BLACK AND WHITE: WHY GENDER NEEDS A LITTLE MORE COLOUR

Guest blog by our Youth Advisory Board Member Bailey Prevezer. A trans woman's experiences following the Supreme Court ruling.

The UK Supreme Court is the highest judicial body in the UK, made up of 12 selected judges from across the country. Normally, the Supreme Court only passes judgment on cases of high importance. On the 16th of April, the Supreme Court ruled that the legal definition of a woman under the Equality Act 2010 is based on the biological sex people are born with. Here’s how the ruling came about, what it means, and how it has impacted my life as a young trans person living in the UK.

Before the Supreme Court ruling, ‘gender’ had not been formally defined by the courts and, subsequently, nor had it been established what lawmakers who drafted the Equalities Act in 2010 really meant when they referred to ‘women’. Due to this lack of legal clarity, organisations and individuals were able to interpret the law, and the status quo was to assume that gender recognition should be protected, as the Equalities Act was written to prevent discrimination against protected characteristics. Therefore, many organisations felt ‘women’ should include everyone who identifies with that group. This meant that your identity as a woman was not judged against binary stereotypes. For example, a ‘woman’ could mean a ‘cis’ gender woman (someone born a woman biologically and who lives as one), as well as a transgender woman undergoing hormone replacement treatment (HRT), a woman who has the biological markers (genitalia) of both male and female biology, and a woman who has abnormal levels of androgens in her body and may have certain physical differences (facial hair, etc.).

Across social media, people voiced their concerns about the consequences of this interpretation, and what it would mean for themselves and those they knew. This is completely justified. The fear of the unknown is a prevalent issue in society today. Many people, myself included, fear the uncontrollable factors in our lives. For the everyday reader, the question ‘what is a woman’ may seem like something that will not impact you or those you know, but in reality, it's much bigger than that. This ruling impacts ‘cis’ women as well as transgender women, and all other genders. 

My biggest issue with this whole ruling and the way it has been declared is that it takes away all the nuance from a highly nuanced situation. In many instances, gender may not be obvious visually. This may be true for those who have higher levels of testosterone naturally, biological females who do not present as feminine, and those who are intersex. Gender is not a one-size-fits-all concept. The idea that it should mean one thing to everyone is really restrictive and is something that we as a society should aim to move away from. The Supreme Court’s ruling that the Equalities Act defines gender as a biological concept is reductive, invasive, and leaves people feeling isolated.

I myself am a trans woman taking HRT, but according to this ruling, I am not allowed to use spaces that align to how I identify. I, as a person who loves sports, can no longer take part in amateur sports; a space where I have always felt safe and seen.

I would like to address some of the leading reasons people believe gender should be determined by biological markers. 

Firstly, safety is a serious issue. There is a horrific trend in terms of assault and abuse and the lack of reporting and punitive measures being taken against perpetrators. I’ve heard several horrific stories from friends and on the news. A good friend of mine wrote a song about being objectified, and it’s horrific to think about. According to the National Crime Statistics in the UK, in the year ending March 2022, approximately 1.1 million people have experienced sexual violence, including attempts. This disproportionately impacts women and girls. According to the same statistics, the number of people reporting sexually violent crimes to the police has increased year on year. In the year ending March 2022, there were 195,000 cases of sexual violence reported, an increase of over 30,000 on the previous year. These figures are extremely worrying. In the years since I've started to come out and socially transition, it would be lying to say I'm not more worried walking down the street alone at night. Safety is a legitimate issue which disproportionately impacts women. Yet, this ruling will not make women safer. 

In most public spaces, restaurants, clubs and other places in which there are toilets, there is a high likelihood that those cleaning the bathroom will not be kept to those of the gender specified. Therefore, any person who wants to go into the wrong bathroom or changing rooms to partake in criminal activity. 

Moreover, if you look at the statistics, the vast majority of instances of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) are committed at home, by a family member or partner. There is a genuine VAWG epidemic which does need combatting desperately, but statistically speaking, trans women are not the perpetrators and bathrooms are not the scenes of the crime. Whilst fears are valid, this whole debate distracts us from tackling the real problem: misunderstandings of consent, abusive relationships and ex partners who do not understand how to deal with rejection. Statistically speaking this will make the biggest difference not only in the short term but in the long run.  

The second reason often used to defend the Supreme Court ruling is fairness. In the context of the sports industry, there clearly is an intention to ensure competition is fair, but the extent to which the rules have been applied seems antithetical.

For me, I hope for a future in which people are more accepting and differences don’t make any difference. In fact, I hope differences are cherished as they bring different perspectives, which are important to produce thriving communities. This doesn’t mean that everyone has to take a stand publicly; putting yourself out there and raising your voice can be scary. Social media is a dangerous place, but even if you don’t outwardly express support, any support, whether big or small, is appreciated.

For example, on the back of the original ruling, I had the rabbi at my synagogue reaching out to me, and other people I know reached out to me to check in on how I was feeling. Additionally, after the English Cricket Board (ECB) decided trans women were no longer welcome to play in amateur women's clubs, my friends from uni and the captains and vice-captains of the teams at the cricket club I play at reached out to me to check in, and the club has been attempting to find ways that I can play despite the ruling. These acts, which don’t necessarily involve that much active effort, mean a lot to me and other people whom it impacts.

To those who have done this and continue to do this, thank you so much; it means more than we can put into words. 

I want to bring this topic back to something that I believe is really important. I want you to think back to your time in education, whether you agree with the ruling or not. When you think back to sex education, did you ever learn anything outside of the two binary genders (male/female)? Did you talk about ‘the second puberty’? Or the risks that come with undergoing hormone replacement treatment (HRT)? I would wager that most of you who are not yourself thinking of or undertaking this path know what it’s like. As someone with anxiety, I understand it is so easy to be scared of what is not known, but this is exactly the reason we need better education. With a large amount of the population getting their information from social media, it is really easy for misinformation to be effective and fast-spreading. This is super dangerous, and that is why we need to make sure we disperse facts to combat misinformation and don’t let emotions overtake the discussion. Organisations like Sex Ed Matters are fighting for better education to set people up for a better strand of life knowing information that might help them, allowing them to explore further and not in fear or stress.

If you take one thing from the ramblings of one trans woman it’s this; society demands of us that we look at things as either black or white. But it’s important we see the shades of grey, and the colours, in between.

The world is not simply one thing or the other. Multiple things can be true at once. A woman walking down the street can be confident in her look and still walk down the road looking over her shoulder. We need to bring back the nuance.  We need to stop shoehorning people into boxes when there are very few people who actually fit these boxes completely. Trans people have always been here and always will be, It’s time to stop treating us as different just because nature has dealt us a different hand. 

In a world full of black and white, be yourself; be the rainbow.

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